The present invention relates to the general field of information storage and retrieval. Information storage and retrieval refers to the process of generating and storing specific items of information and then selecting and presenting data retrieved from those specific items. As used herein, text information storage and retrieval refers to the creation and retrieval of potentially large, irregular, and heterogeneous collections of texts from a collection, or text base, according to a user's variable descriptions of the subjects for which they are interested in information retrieval. A "text base" information retrieval system is one that is based on a large number of "texts" which can be miscellaneous strings of information, sentences, or documents, of indeterminate and varied length, and of a wide variety of data classes, including words, numbers, values, and graphical information.
Some information retrieval systems which are based on retrieval of word information index all words appearing in all of the texts. Others index "keywords" which are descriptive words assigned to certain texts by the text's author or by a key word assignor. The keyword often, though not always, is a word which appears in the text itself. A user who wants to find a particular text does so by asking for a search for texts associated with a particular keyword or by using a logical (Boolean) combination of keywords as a tool for information retrieval. Often such systems may also allow for the user to search among information in the text base by character string or other user-modifiable search strategy.
A typical search request on prior art information storage and retrieval systems generates a long list or a large collection of texts which logically satisfy the search criteria imposed by the user. Typically in such a situation, the user is searching for a single or few texts, and is attempting to intelligently guess at the appropriate logical combination to use to identify and retrieve the texts in which the user is interested with the fewest number of extraneous files being included. Thus the user must often spend much time and energy examining pertubations of search strategy to try to pick out those texts or files which are truly relevant to the user's needs.
A system has been proposed for the analysis of text bases based on a keyword-type system which then analyzes the keywords of the texts which are retrieved, and presents the information derived from those keywords in a software-generated pseudo-intelligent outline-type display for the user. This system of presentation of keyword-derived information to the user allows the user to more quickly and easily window through a search strategy to find the item or items in which the person is interested. Such a system is described in International PCT Published Application number WO88/04454 by Paul Kleinberger published June 16, 1988, the specification of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
The system described in this published patent application by Kleinberger is extremely efficient and effective for the retrieval and analysis of information which has been entered by the user into the program generating text base organized by the user. In common day usage of personal computers, however, much textual information will be available within the files or storage of the personal computer which has been generated in, or through the use of, other software application programs. The information retrieval system and method as described above by Kleinberger is not inherently capable of abstracting and retrieving information contained in text files generated by other software application programs.
There are known to be some types of computer software application programs for personal computers which are capable of starting or "launching" other diverse software application programs, and then recovering control of the computer when the launched program is finished. For example, the operating system for the Macintosh personal computer sold by the Apple Computer Corporation is known as the "Finder." Using the "Finder" operating system, a user is presented with a visual display of files to which access may be obtained through the Finder, and the user may select an icon from the visual display created by the Finder program to launch an application program. When the user quits from the launched application program, the Finder program automatically reasserts control over the machine and reinstitutes operation, thereby recreating the visual display for the user created by the operating system. The Finder program does not, however, maintain detailed information, other than file name and location and other attributes necessary to launch the application, about the internal data contained within the application programs that it launches.
Another application program, also available on the Apple Macintosh, is capable of providing linkages between different application programs This application program, known as "Hypercard," allows the creation of certain linkages between different program files. Each linkage is custom constructed by the user to automatically proceed to link to a certain point in another application program and, upon return, to return to the point from which the application was launched Again, this program contains no inherent ability to conduct searches for information contained in files generated by other application programs or to selectively launch into certain files based on the results of such searches.